Firefox has re-joined the Browser Wars

Firefox is back as a contender for the best browser, even though admittedly the criteria for that are very subjective. Some would say that having a browser that respects your privacy wins from the get-go, but a lot of users (me included) are big fans of convenience (like automatic password syncing), which Firefox can do now!

Secondly, cutting edge web features are a very nice thing for developers. Admittedly, Mozilla has been ramping up the rendering and multiple tab speed drastically, but also many JavaScript ES6 features are implemented.

For a complete comparison check out: The ES6 comparison table. It looks as if FF has caught up with Chrome on the JavaScript / ECMAScript side of things.

The CSS rendering engine has been sped up incredibly, so much that Mozilla made a video comparing the rendering speeds of Chrome and Firefox and the results are in Firefox favour on many sites.

Personally I feel that the performance is great, especially when you work with a lot of tabs at once (which I do, so it’s perfect for power users)

The user interface has been overhauled, even if it isn’t introducing any crazy changes, it offers a new look and easier customisation of the order of elements and caters the need of anyone who likes to tweak their browser experience a bit.

If you want to just give it a shot, try the Firefox Developer edition, since it has the most changes and overall is incredibly stable for a developer nightly release.

Summary

It’s great to see Firefox back in the ring and not only as a reminder and a moral choice to keep the browser choice from becoming a monopoly, but as an actual hardcore browser, that is fast and has password sync.